Cyber Resilience

Cyber resilience is at the heart of digital learning and teaching

This week is National Digital Learning Week — an opportunity for Scotland to showcase and celebrate the added value that digital and online technologies bring to young people’s learning. It’s also a chance to restate the importance of cyber resilience in our learning system and curriculum.

What is cyber resilience?

Cyber resilience is an outcome — if we’re cyber resilient then we’re prepared for cyber attacks, able to withstand them, and can recover quickly when they have an impact.

For Scotland to be cyber resilient we need:

our people to be safe online — meaning we need to teach the basics of staying safe and secure online

Cyber resilience isn’t about “clamping down” and reducing access to technologies. It’s about getting the most out of what’s available — and at the same time saying to the rest of the world (and to investors): “Scotland is a safe place in which to learn, innovate, do business and spend your money.”

What does this mean for educators?

Teachers can support children in schools to become cyber resilient through their digital literacy learning, following guidance in the Technologies benchmarks and Experiences and Outcomes that now explicitly refer to cyber resilience (alongside internet safety).

Teachers can be role models of cyber resilience, adopting and making explicit good practice and behaviour in the classroom in their own use of digital technologies. Read some tips for being more cyber resilient at work.

Teachers can also introduce children to the (often lucrative) opportunities in cyber security careers. Currently, worldwide and in Scotland, there is a skills gap, with more jobs than applicants. Teachers can find out about cyber security as a career from the Digital World careers information site, and can support children through some of Scotland’s groundbreaking qualifications in cyber security. See SQA’s website for more information.

Did you know about the range of cyber security skills programmes that are available to young people? Check out CyberFirst’s range of programmes, including the three residentials running in Paisley this summer.

If you want to learn more about cyber resilience in Curriculum for Excellence, contact the Technologies team at Education Scotland.

Meantime, for general awareness on becoming cyber resilient check out some of these links: get informed by checking out some of these links:

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What is this blog about?

Safe, Secure & Prosperous: A Cyber Resilient Scotland is a strategy for leaders, educators and policy makers across the private, public and third sectors. It provides direction on how to recognise, manage and respond to the increasing threats we all face online.